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Roger Ebert dies at 70 after battle with cancer

suntimes.com

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Re: Roger Ebert dies at 70 after battle with cancer

#41

Post by ryanmolden »

danso wrote: post #21

Ebert made his name in movie criticism but he was one of my favorite writers, period. I've read him since I was in junior high...it sounds silly now, but the way he would give four stars to what seemed like just a shallow blockbuster action movie but then justify it for doing shallow action wonderfully ...that taught me a lot about how to judge things on what they purport to do, rather than just against what you, the…

His "Your Movie Sucks" book (http://www.amazon.com/Your-Movie-Sucks-Roger-Ebert/dp/074076...) has some pretty humurous, scathing reviews.

Re: Roger Ebert dies at 70 after battle with cancer

#42

Post by krschultz »

suyash wrote: post #15

Someone needs to find 100% cure against this deadly disease. So much money is spent on cancer research every year and what are the results..almost zero.

I just read "The Emperor of All Maladies", an absolutely great book about cancer, the history of cancer discovery and history of cancer treatment. It goes into a lot of detail about exactly what progress is being made, why it is so hard, and what is on the horizon.

After reading it, I came away with the impression that the scientific fight against cancer is 50-60 years, but only the last 20 years has been very fruitful. Prior to that the treatments that worked were found largely through trial and error.

Re: Roger Ebert dies at 70 after battle with cancer

#43

Post by JPKab »

tptacek wrote: post #13

Fitzgerald said "the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." Ebert seemed to have a knack for thinking all the thoughts simultaneously, and then getting their product onto a page: http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2008/12/win_ben_steins_mind.... http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2013/03/how_i_am_a_roman_cat... One of t…

Wow. The Fitzgerald quote is amazing. Thanks for sharing.

As a kid growing up in a poor, rural community, I wasn't exposed to much intellectual writing. The exception was the reprint in the local paper of Ebert's movie reviews, and of course seeing him on one of the two channels that came in on the antenna.

When so many around me thought that being dissatisfied with the intellectual equivalent of McDonald's was elitist, Ebert reminded me that it wasn't cynical to look down on thoughtless garbage; rather, it was hopeful to demand that movie studios realize that we weren't as dumb as they think we are.

Re: Roger Ebert dies at 70 after battle with cancer

#45

Post by smacktoward »

atonse wrote: post #33
wcfields wrote: post #12

. I'll just leave one of my favorite quotes from Ebert about a movie that is actually one of my all time favorite comedy. "This movie doesn't scrape the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't below the bottom of the barrel. This movie doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with barrels." [1] - Roger Ebert review of "Freddy Got Fingered"; April 20, 2001 [1] http…

I always preferred his 0-1 star reviews to his 4 star reviews, only because he would skewer them with such masterful language. Ahh now what do I do when I want to laugh at a review about a woefully bad movie?

You can always buy the two books Ebert published that are nothing but collections of reviews he wrote for movies he gave 2 stars or less: I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie and its follow-up, Your Movie Sucks.

There's enough skewering between their covers to keep you occupied for quite some time :-D

Re: Roger Ebert dies at 70 after battle with cancer

#46

Post by parfe »

Ebert wrote an article in 1997 about 2001: A Space Odyssey which changed the way I watch movies. He made me start thinking about why the director and his characters do things rather than caring specifically about what they were doing. His work will stick with me for the rest of my life.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19...

Re: Roger Ebert dies at 70 after battle with cancer

#47

Post by ethomson »

tptacek wrote: post #29
jusben1369 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is stealing/paraphrasing Winston Churchill "yes I may be drunk. But my Dear in the morning I'll be sober and you'll still be ugly" or something close to that.

At the risk of dissecting the frog, the wit is in the assumptive twist about The Brown Bunny. He was right, by the way: he did indeed get thin (he stopped being able to eat after losing his jaw to a surgical mishap), and Vincent Gallo is indeed still the director of The Brown Bunny.

To be pedantic, he lost a lot of weight before he lost his ability to eat. After his initial cancer diagnosis (and treatment), he went on the Pritikin diet and lost almost 90 pounds between the diet and weight loss from treatment.

http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2004-08-29/online-extra-...

Re: Roger Ebert dies at 70 after battle with cancer

#48

Post by stcredzero »

A lot of young people look at his scathing wit and try with varying degrees to emulate that. His hallmark, and one of the fundamental sources of his scathing wit was his integrity. If you're careful about writing/saying what's true, and if you're doing it because writing/saying what's the truth is your motivation, then you can be great like he was.

If you're just after attention and want to be known as a scathing wit, please sit down, pipe down, and refrain from adding to the noise.

Basically, if you do it, do it because you have something to say.

Re: Roger Ebert dies at 70 after battle with cancer

#49

Post by jfb »

stcredzero wrote: post #48

A lot of young people look at his scathing wit and try with varying degrees to emulate that. His hallmark, and one of the fundamental sources of his scathing wit was his integrity. If you're careful about writing/saying what's true , and if you're doing it because writing/saying what's the truth is your motivation, then you can be great like he was. If you're just after attention and want to be known as a scathing wi…

The great thing about him, to me, was his unabashed love of movies; and all he wanted to do was share this with his readers. He introduced me to the work of Werner Herzog, and through that, a whole huge world of movies that I might not otherwise have seen. Thanks, Robert, and RIP.

Re: Roger Ebert dies at 70 after battle with cancer

#50

Post by crapshoot101 »

crapshoot101 wrote: post #27

From the THR review - part of the reason I liked Ebert - he wasn't fundementally getting his rocks off on being a cynical asshole: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/roger-ebert-dies-film-... “I am, beneath everything else, a fan. I was fixed in this mode as a young boy and am awed by people who take the risks of performance.”

PS, one more: for those of you who know Jay Mariotti (sports "commentator - all around ass), Ebert's note on his way out was brilliant:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20...

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